Sugarplum Ball flies and aims high to benefit Children's Hospital

With 100-plus committee members, you can’t go wrong getting an enthusiastic crowd at a gala. Add a stunning location — the recently restored Terminal at Lakefront Airport — and this year’s Sugarplum Ball, themed “Fly Away,” had partygoers intently exploring each of the airport’s concourses for food, libations and frolic, all in the name of raising funds for Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The architectural details of the airport’s interior and exterior were beautifully illuminated by the experts at Pyramid Audio Productions, while banners and homespun airplane replicas were the focus of the main concourse. Centerpieces of wood planters with handmade paper flowers adorned tabletops, and were available to bring home for $20. The night’s program had a very handy map, which helped people locate the 30 restaurants and libationary treats, as well as the raffle (diamond earrings donated by Wellington & Co.) and the silent auction boards, cleverly named after aviation innovators Howard Hughes, Charles Lindbergh, the Wright Brothers, and Amelia Earhart.

Betty Sullivan, who attended with her husband, Norman Sullivan, was honored for her longtime dedication to the hospital as a member of the Children’s Hospital Guild and hospital board.